Poinsettia
by CrowNoYami
Summary: Case-fic. When Sam and Dean investigate a case of people dying by coughing up poinsettia leaves they managed to gain the attention of the witch they're hunting. Part 22 of Advent Calendar 2017


**Authors Note:** **Sorry no romance in this one.**

 **Warnings:** **Minor Character Death, Original Character.**

 ***** Special notice: I am in the process of deleting my other account and migrating the fics to this one. Please note that the prompts for this series were pictures.**

 **Poinsettia**

"I can't believe this is all about a freakin' flower."

Sam glanced at his brother who was tied to a chair beside him. They had been left alone while their captor went to finish some last-minute touches to the ritual he had planned. They had stumbled upon the case like they did any other, a trail of bodies being left in unusual ways. It wasn't until they came into town posing as federal agents they got the lead they had been looking for. Flowers, more specifically poinsettia leaves where what killed each of the victims. The leaves had been coughed up the throat of each victim, the roots of the plant having taken residence in their stomach.

It was a horrible way to die.

Slowly the plant would work its way into the bloodstream until it made it to the heart and lungs. By the time the victim started coughing up leaves, it was too late, they only had minutes of horrible pain trying to cough up the plant before they died. Four bodies in just as many days and the locals couldn't make heads or tails of the case. They had forwarded the samples of the plant from each victim to be analyzed, but besides the victims' blood all through the plant it was normal, ordinary; even though the case wasn't.

Turning to his brother, Sam looked around the other man. It wasn't a long shot to call witch; the second Dean had seen the work they had known what they were dealing with. The problem with witches was figuring out their motive. With monsters it was easy, food most time, or territory; but witches were essentially human and thus they needed to figure out motive like they would any civilian killer. Figuring it out hadn't been easy, while the people they interviewed had been friendly enough they hadn't known anything. The only thing that linked the victims were their choice in pets. Cats.

A quick Google search and Sam was groaning into his hand. Not only had they stumbled onto a witch who apparently hated cats, but it was one who didn't even finish their research. If Sam had to guess the witch had wanted to punish the cats, or the human for having cats, by bringing a cat-toxic plant into the house. It took Sam all of ten seconds to find out that while the plant might cause some vomiting for the animal should it be ingested, overall it was harmless. Thankfully they were able to narrow it down quickly and thus located the witch, a neighborhood recluse.

That was when things started to go wrong, the man had been ready for them. Sam had tried to talk him down, but by then whatever demon the man had sold into had already explained what hunters did. A few mutterings and both brothers were unable to fight against the man. Which was how they ended up tied to a chair, waiting for the man to 'prepare for his final sacrifice'. Now that the man was gone, the brother began to find a way out of the ropes holding them. The witch had been able to overpower them while taking on the power of his demon, but Sam noticed the witch wasn't the smartest of people.

Soon both Sam and Dean were out of their bounds. Dean quickly grabbed the hunting knife he had inside his boot while Sam did the same with Ruby's knife he had stashed in the back of his pants. Dean made his way up the stairs first, both keeping their steps light while they made their way back to the kitchen where the witch was mixing up the ingredients he would need for the ritual. The witch was so focused on his work, he never noticed anyone approaching with his back to the entrance to the kitchen. Dean was on him in a second, the blade easily slicing into the man's back while Sam glanced at the spell-work.

They would need to clean up, but thankfully the man wasn't strong enough to fight Death as Dean twisted the knife in his spine. Looking at the room Sam couldn't help but grimace at the list which lay beside the cauldron. While the witch hadn't been much; if he had managed the spell, it would have changed things.

"What do you say I gather the salt and find something flammable around here while you drag Dresden out back. Think we should burn this too?"

There wasn't anything which could harm anyone without the spell on the table. Shaking his head, Sam bent, grabbing the witch's arms to start dragging him. As an afterthought, Sam tucked the spell into the man's pocket for when they started the fire. Some things were better left as ash.


End file.
